Wheel construction



Jan. 8, 1924. 9 1,479,945 A. O. VESTINE WHEEL CONSTRUCTION Filed Oct. 8, 1921 lnv enToT.

Andrew 0, \l/esiine AiTys.

Patented Jan. 8, 1924.

A UNITED STATES PATENT mc AIUDREW o. vnsrritn ofr wn'rnn'rown, nass icncsnres, Assieiton 'ro W571i" Town r'n'essnn s'rnnn COMPANY, OF wn rnnrowiv, MASSACHUSETTS, A eoriro'nn H or mssacncsnrrs.

WHEEL cousraeo'rron.

Application filed October 8, 1921. Serial No. 5065511;

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, ANDREW O. VnsrrNn, acitizen of the United States, and resident of VVatertown, county of Middlesex, State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improve ment in Wheel Constructions, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawing, is a specification, like characters on the drawing representing like parts. i I

This invention relates to improvements in vehicle wheels, and particularly wheels of the type shown in United States Letters Patent No. 1,196,408, granted to me August 29, 1916,, and the object "of the present 111- vention is to provide a wheel of this general type which will be of a more rigid con struction than has heretofore been produced.

A further object of the invention is to provide a wheelof this type comprising a hub having anti-frictionbearings which can be more easily constructed and more readily assembled than has heretofore been possible.

A further object of the invention is to 25 provide a wheel hub construction comprisin a barrel enclosing-a circumferential series 0% anti-friction members in which the anti-frie tion .me mbers can be readily assembled and retained in properposition within the hub barrel, thus enabling suchhub barrelsto be retained in storage in assembled condition until required for use inthe production of the completed wheel, 7 y

These and other objects and features of the invention will more fully appear from the following description and the aecom= partying drawings and will be pointed out in the claims, 7 p y I A preferred embodiment of my invention is illustrated in the. accompanying draw ing, in which,

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a wheel con taining my invention;

Fig. "2 is a detail view showing the'barrel of the hub and anti-friction rollers in section' Fig. 3 is a detail longitudinal sectional View through the barrel and the hub members of the wheel;

Fig. 4 is a transverse sectional view through the rim sections of the wheel showing also a tire, cylindrical in cross section, assembled upon the wheel rim.

The particular embodiment of the inven tion disclosed herein is illustrated as applied to a wheel hav ng a body fbrnied 0f s fi metal. The body comprises. two 6111- p-lementary members formed of sheet metal I each member comprising a rimsection 1',

the form of tongues 8, adapted tobebent over .or otherwise deformed to lock the-,ilinb members firmly against the ends of the barrel. By reason ,ofthis' construction a very rigid wheel hub structureis produced where'- a i p v cons ru t ons n whichv th hub members fitted upon the nd 0 -f the barrel, excessine weight upon the wheel Would cause su-tli'c'ient spreading oi the hub me ers od ng 'ge "the sa om t e end of the barrel. I I -'Q pa c ub st uction H1115 trated herein a series of anti-trictionrofllers 9 are provided which are arranged circums ferentially within the chamber of said barrel. The ends of the rollers 9 desirably are reduced, preferably presenting tapered ends 10, and means-desirably are provided {to retain the rollers in; their circumferential a1 rangem'ent. i In the preferred embodiment of the invention illustrated v herein the retaining members are inthe :Eorm of-caps 111 inter posed between the hubfnembers '3. .ot the 1 body of the wheel and the ends of the bar-rel said t in ng emb r be g pr ded with inturned lips 12 which underlie the reduced ends of the anti-friction rollers 9.

Preferably the retaining members are prostruction the barrel, retaining caps and hub members may be rigidly locked in assembled position. Furthermore, this construction provides for the assembly of the anti-fric tion rollers in the barrels before the barrel is assembled in the wheel, so that the assembled barrels can be easily stored until needed. In thus assembling the anti-friction rollers within the barrels one of the retaining caps is placed upon the end of the barrel and is held in place not only by the circumferential flange 13 which embraces the end of the barrel, but also by the tongue which projects through the aperture or slot I in the cap. The rollers may then be inserted in the barrel and the other cap ap-' plied and pressed into position. When itis desired to assemble the entire Wheel the body portions of the wheel are appliedto the ends of the barrel in such a manner that the tongues 8 extend through the apertures 7 in the hub members; The projecting ends of the tongues are then bent downwardly as illustrated in Fig. 3, or otherwisedeformed in such a manner as to lock the hub members firmly against the ends of the barrel, clamping the retaining members for the anti-friction rollers therebetween. When this is accomplished the rim sections 1 of the wheel are brought together as illustrated in Fig. 4c. Each of the rim sections preferably is provided with a flange 15 which is provided at intervals with a locking member or .tab 16 adapted to be bent over the flange of the complementary rim section and preferably to enter a suitable recess in said eomplementary member as more fully described in my prior patent aforesaid. The rim sections 1 may be ofany desired contour to receive a suitable tire. As illustrated herein each of the rim sections presents an arcuate surface so that the rim members when assembled are adapted to receive a tire 17 of circular cross section which may be applied in the usual way. The spokes of the wheel may be of any desired contour.

will be understood that it may be embodied in other forms of Wheels.

It will, therefore, be understood that the particular embodiment of the invention disclosed herein is illustrative and not restrictive and that various modifications inform, construction and arrangement of parts may be made, within the spirit and scope of the following claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

1. A Wheel comprising a pair of complementary hub members, a tubular barrel intermediate of said hub members having at its ends locking means positively interengaging said hub members, anti-friction means circuinferentially arranged within the chamber of said barrel and means for retaining said anti-friction means in said circumferential arrangement secured in po sition by said locking means.

2. A wheel comprising a pair of complementary hub members having apertures located at predetermined distances from their centers, a barrel intermediate of said hub members having at its ends tongues engaging said apertures and operable when deformed to lock said hub members upon said barrel, a series of anti-friction members circumferentially arranged within the chamber of said barrel and means for retaining said anti-friction members in circumferential arrangement, secured in position by the interengagement of said barrel and hub members.

3. A wheel comprising a pair of complementary hub members having apertures located at predetermined distances from their centers, a tubular barrel intermediate of said hub members having integral tongues extending through the apertures in said hub members and operable when deformed to lock said hub members upon said barrel, a series of rollers having reduced end portions circumferentially arranged within the chamber of said barrel and retaining caps engaging the ends of said barrels having apertures to receive said tongues and clamped thereupon by the said hub members and having lips underlying the tapered ends of said rollers.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification.

' ANDREW O. VESTINE, 

